by Emily Brown, USATODAY

by Emily Brown, USATODAY

Thursday night on live TV, tweens and teens from across the country stepped up to the mic in front of a packed ballroom to try their best to correctly spell complicated words.

It was a rigorous path to the finals, with rounds of regional and state spell-offs, written tests and, if you're lucky, a trip to the D.C. suburbs for the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee. But that doesn't guarantee a spot on TV.

More competitions have played out over the week, and a dozen contestants (there were 281 at the beginning of the week) competed live on ESPN for the championship.